Hotel Chocolat reports another strong year of growth

Chocolate retailer Hotel Chocolat has a reported a 12% increase in revenue for the financial year ending July 1 2018.

The business opened 15 stores in the year, which contributed 6% to the retailer’s year-on-year sales, added 200,000 new online buyers and has developed a number of new products for the upcoming autumn-winter season.

Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and CEO, said: “Hotel Chocolat has had another strong year. Whilst there has been considerable recent media coverage of retail generally, we are encouraged by the performance of both our new and existing locations.”

He added: “The deep knowledge of our School of Chocolate-trained retail teams and our experiential Chocolate Lock-in sessions continue to underpin the allure of our multi-channel model.”

Earlier in the financial year the group reported strong performance during its Christmas trading period, with revenue increasing by 15% to £71.7m

At the time Thirlwell said: “This has been another period of strong progress for Hotel Chocolat with growth in both sales and profits. The critical Christmas period was again successful, helped by further improvements in availability, our best ever seasonal range and the extension of our one-stop gift solutions range.”